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Women's groups endorse Singas in D.A. run

By:

Noah Manskar

Four women’s rights groups endorsed Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas on Thursday in her bid for district attorney against Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray.

The New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women, NARAL Pro-Choice New York, Eleanor’s Legacy and Planned Parenthood of Nassau County announced their support for Singas, a Democrat from Manhasset, at the state Supreme Court building in Mineola, citing her efforts to tackle violent crimes against women as a prosecutor.

The organization leaders commended Singas’s role in starting the county’s Special Victims Bureau in 2006 to focus on sex crimes, as well as her approach to prosecuting sex trafficking, which aims to protect trafficked women and punish traffickers.

They also said Singas’s experience as a prosecutor makes her far more qualified than Murray, a Republican from Levittown, whom NYC NOW Vice President Jane Manning called “utterly and almost absurdly unqualified.”

“We need a district attorney who’s relying on 24 years of hard-earned experience, and not one who’s relying on beginner’s luck,” Manning said at Thursday’s press conference.

The groups called Singas a proactive prosecutor, praising several initiatives she has started in the county that help women who are victims of violent gender-based crimes.

In addition to starting the Special Victims Bureau, Singas formed a partnership between the DA’s office and the Bethpage-based SAFE Center to aid victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.

Singas also said she is working to build a legal services center for women navigating the criminal justice system.

The groups also noted Singas’s support for abortion rights in their endorsements. A past district attorney actively worked to prevent women from obtaining abortions, said Planned Parenthood President JoAnn Smith, and women’s rights advocates do not want to see the office used for that purpose again.
Danielle Castaldi-Micca, NARAL New York’s political director, said Singas has established a record of being “proudly pro-choice” as a prosecutor.

“At a time when women’s reproductive rights are so intensely under attack in this country, it is incredibly important that, especially in places like Nassau County, we have people with long histories of experience in office who will help protect women’s right to choose, and we know that Madeline will do that,” she said.

Singas said the groups’ endorsement is important to her as a woman, calling their work “vital” to ending gender-based crimes.

“They know that when our mothers, our daughters, our sisters are victims of crimes, are subjected to physical violence or sexual violence merely because of their gender, then all of us as a society suffer,” she said. “We cannot stand idly by while these crimes occur.”

This was the second round of endorsements Singas received this week. Former U.S. Rep Carolyn McCarthy, Village of Hempstead Mayor Wayne Hall and Sisters Against Violence In Our Communities announced their support for her Tuesday.